


Fantasio's dog days

by Lieju



Category: Gaston (Bande Dessinée), Spirou et Fantasio
Genre: Gen, cats and dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 13:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8015788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lieju/pseuds/Lieju
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fantasio gets turned into a dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fantasio's dog days

Fantasio sniffed the odd bottle, and wrinkled his nose at the stench.

He was starting to wonder if rubbing it to his scalp would really be a good idea. And this whole thing was experimental, and strictly speaking maybe pocketing it from the visit to the factory he had done a story on had not been _exactly_ legal...

 

But Fantasio was starting to get more and more conscious of the fact that apart from his very stubborn eight hairs his hair was looking more and more thin, especially from the top...

 

And as he smeared it on his scalp the effect was immediate.

He stared at the mirror as new hair started to push from his scalp where he had rubbed the cream. He brought his hand to it. It sort of felt coarse, but apart from that-

 

But his hand felt a bit odd too.

 

He stared in horror as the skin on his fingers started to thicken. And soon the change wasn't limited only on places that had come in contact with the odd substance, as thick blond hair started to grow on his arms.

 

"Arf!?"

 

* * *

 

 

Spirou knocked on the bathroom door.

"Fantasio? What are you doing in there? I need to take a shower!"

 

He could hear a whimper.

 

"Fantasio? Are you okay?"

 

Spirou opened the door and stopped to stare. "Fantasio? What are you doing?"

 

There was something unusual about his friend. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't wearing pants at the moment. And he seemed a bit shorter.

 

"Woof!"

 

"Fantasio, what are you talking about?"

 

Spirou squinted his eyes. Maybe he was looking a bit more like a blond Labrador than usual. Still, the eight unruly hairs pointing at random directions left no doubt that this was Fantasio.

 

"Are you a dog?"

 

"Ar rroof!"

And now that Spirou thought about it, this was the first time Fantasio had greeted him by wagging his tail.

* * *

 

 

Spirou opened the door to the editorial offices.

"Fine, we'll go meet the Count later, I'm sure he can fix this. But weren't you saying how you had some work?"

 

"Woof!"

 

"Well Prunelle turns into a cat every now and then and he doesn't let it stop him from coming to work."

 

Fantasio sighed. True, though.

 

Lebrac waved in greeting. "Hi."

 

He frowned. "Fantasio, there's something odd about you..."

The artist lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, you're not wearing your bow tie today? No, not that... Maybe it's your lack of trousers..."

 

Fantasio barked.

 

"Who brought a dog in?" Prunelle asked, walking into the room. "It was Gaston, wasn't it?"

 

Fantasio ignored the odd and sudden need to chase the dark haired editor up a tree and barked again.

 

Prunelle pointed at him. "Keep it out of the office!"

 

"Well that's not very nice," Spirou told him. "What has Fantasio done to you? Oh is it his lack of trousers? I think this is fine for Casual Friday."

 

"Spirou, that's a dog. Wait."

 

Prunelle narrowed his eyes. "If that's really Fantasio, even _more_ reason to keep him out of the office! What if it's contagious? What if the whole office turns into pets? Again."

 

Fantasio groaned.

 

"I think he growled at me," Prunelle said.

 

Lebrac shrugged. "Maybe he can tell you're a cat?"

 

"I'm _not_ a cat," Prunelle pointed out. "You turn into a cat _once_ , or twice, or eight times, and will never hear the end of it."

 

"He can wait outside, is that fine?" Spirou asked.

 

* * *

 

 

Fantasio sat down on the sidewalk.

Not that being a dog didn't have its positives, his sense of smell was wonderful, but he wasn't planning to give up on opposable thumbs forever.

 

And his hearing was a lot better too. It didn't, however, save him from the shadowy figure that crept up on him.

Maybe it was the fact his senses were so overwhelmed, but he never noticed the threat before it was too late.

 

* * *

 

"Where's Gaston, anyway?" Prunelle asked. "I don't think I've seen him today at all-"

 

Suddenly the wall exploded.

 

Spirou, with his adventure-honed reflexes, jumped out of the way and hid behind the desk.

Prunelle fell on his stomach with a yelp.

 

"Hello! I'm here to take the whole place hostage and stuff."

 

Upon hearing the voice, Prunelle was instantly on his feet. "Rogntudjuu, Gaston! What do you think you're doing now!?"

 

The office boy emerged from the cloud of dust where the wall had once been. "Hi."

 

"Don't you 'hi' me! Are you trying to take over the world again? Stop it right this instant."

 

Gaston shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Phuh, you're jumping into conclusions! No, I'm not taking over the world..."

 

There was a bark and Prunelle's and Spirou's attention was drawn to the  _ Doberman _ Pinscher standing next to the office boy.

"Yeah, I'm just telling them," Gaston said. "Anyway, I'm merely translating for this guy."

 

Spirou jumped from behind the desk, every muscle ready to fight. "Zantafio!"

 

The black dog lifted his head and gave a smug grin.

"Woof!"

 

Spirou shook his fist. "You villain."

 

"More dogs?" Prunelle asked. "Wait, why is Fantasio's cousin who keeps stealing his mail and putting it back to his mailbox after cutting all the coupons out doing here? As a dog?"

 

The black dog gave the editor a glare, and growled.

 

Prunelle took a step back as the dog stood up, transfixed on the editor.

 

Zantafio barked, startling Prunelle, and one probably magical ' _poof_ ' later an annoyed-looking black cat crawled out of Prunelle's sweater.

 

The dog couldn't hold back anymore and jumped at the cat who dashed out of the room, followed by the villain.

 

* * *

 

 

"So, this is yours?" The fireman held out the grumpy-looking cat.

Not that Prunelle didn't have any right to be annoyed, after being chased up a tree by the dog who was now looking equally grumpy, growling through his muzzle.

 

"His collar says 'when found, return to the _Spirou_ editorial offices'," the fireman, who had just moments before retrieved the cat from the tree, said.

 

"Yeh, he works there," Gaston told him, "We both do,"and the cat was handed to him.

"What did you do to Fantasio?" Spirou demanded to know.

Zantafio growled in response.

 

"Fantasio? What about him?" Gaston asked.

 

"He's nowhere to be seen." Spirou glared at the dog. "Did you kidnap him?"

 

"Woof."

 

Spirou turned to Gaston. "What did he say?"

 

"Mmhuh?"

 

"Don't you speak dog?"

 

"Well, I was mostly improvising," Gaston admitted.

 

"Meow."

 

"Yeh, we'll get you some fish on the way to the offices. Although... I have an idea where Fantasio might be."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Fantasio?"

 

Fantasio lifted his head and couldn't help wagging his tail at the voice.

 

He had tried to explain to the animal warden that he was not in fact a dog, as much as he looked like one at the moment.

It had not gone well.

 

But Spirou had come to get him!

As soon as the cage was opened, he jumped to his arms.

 

"See? He knows us," Spirou told the warden.

 

Fantasio noticed the black dog who had been apparently dragged along. He looked oddly familiar...

"Zantafio?"

 

"Hmh, baby cousin," the _Doberman_ Pinscher mumbled through his muzzle. "We seem to have a similar problem."

 

"Wait, how did this even happen to _you?_ " Fantasio asked. "Wait, have you been stealing my bathroom supplies again?"

 

"Hnnngh..."

 

If Fantasio would have currently possessed eyebrows he would have lifted one. "Wait, why would you take _that_? Your hair is fine. Or isn't it?"

 

Zantafio didn't answer, and Fantasio made a mental note to check once they were both humans if his older cousin's impressive hairdo was in fact all natural.

 

"So, how will we turn Fantasio back?" Spirou asked.

 

"Mmhuh? It'll probably wear off in a day or two," Gaston told him. Prunelle meowed, although whether in agreement or disagreement was slightly unclear.

 

The office boy pointed at Zantafio. "So, are you gonna keep him?"

 

"Gaston, he's Zantafio. He belongs in prison," the bellhop pointed out.

 

"What, like a dog prison?"

 

So, after leaving Zantafio in the dog pound, they headed back to the office.

 

Prunelle meowed, and Gaston set him down.

The cat nodded to Spirou and Fantasio and headed into his office.

 

"Is he going back to work?" Spirou asked.

 

"Yeh, he has a system," Gaston told him.

 

"Well, we'll be heading home then," Spirou said.

 

"Woof!"

 

"Maybe after a short detour in a park."

 


End file.
